A. Introduction to Problem Addressed:
The large mileage of roadways and highways throughout the United States and other countries is well known. Most are without lighting or power to light the sides of the pavement or gravel. While this may be safe for straight and flat terrain, it does not provide a safe condition for hilly, mountainous, curvy or highly vegetated environments. The Bi-directional Blind Sight Illumination and Deflector Device addresses the need to improve safety for these terrains. Traditionally, areas without power are left to using common reflectors on guard rails, to placing multiple reflective signage that only reflects the light source of the vehicle one is driving, or to providing power through batteries or small generators to warning devices. These are costly and take maintenance and oversight to keep them active and useful. Drivers and passengers of large and small vehicles such as automobiles, pick-ups, semi-tractors, snow plows, transportation and cargo trucks and busses and other similar vehicles may often be exposed to blind spots when using these unlit roadways. These persons need a better way to be aware of other vehicles, pedestrian, emergencies and locomotives in the area.
B. Prior Art:
As far as known, there are no Bi-directional Blind Sight Illumination and Deflector Device or the like. It is believed that this product is unique in its design and technologies. However, in prior art, disclosures have been made, many including complex devices and some for use in roadway surfaces and guardrails. A U.S. Reissued Patent RE 982 issued in 1860 to Wyberd shows a reflective top assembly placed over a gaslight. Here the use of the gas as energy was employed. The new Bi-directional Blind Sight Illumination and Deflector Device uses no energy and reflects and disperses light from another light source such as a car, truck or flashlight. Another U.S. Pat. No. 1,655,891 for a combination day and night reflector on signs was issued in 1928 to Boots et al. It demonstrated reflective devices but no dispersion or augmentation to the light source.
In 1939 another concept was awarded a U.S. Pat. No. 2,142,803 that was issued to Robertson. This employed a road reflector placed directly into the surface of the roadway. The invention showed no improvement for alerting the drivers to oncoming traffic at hills and curves or near dense vegetation as the Allen device demonstrates. In 1976 a safety reflector device earned a U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,307 for Kirk. This shows a safety signal device for bicycles and the like that includes a shield member which is mounted on an elongate support member and provides a flag type safety warning, visible over hills or the like, of an approaching vehicle. While employing an elongated pole, there is no suggestion or motivation to place the device in a stationary, fixed location to warn vehicles of other vehicles and pedestrians as the Allen Bi-directional Blind Sight Illumination and Deflector Device. It is inconsistent and unobvious that the portable use with a bicycle would be employed in multiple locations as fixed warning devices.
Nearer in scope of use, a U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,882 was issued in 1977 to Penton. This was for a contrasting marker panel for highway guardrails and the like. The device describes an invention that relates to a construction of a contrasting marker panel for highway guardrails and a method of forming the same. More particularly, this invention relates to a marker panel which may have certain contrasting surface portions in the form of colors and/or reflectorized surface portions that are provided on the marker panel which are exposed outwardly of the guardrail recess to thereby form a contrasting indication visible against highway surrounding background to vehicles traveling the adjacent highway. While an improved device, it uses the costly guardrail as opposed to the simple sheet on an elongated pole as shown by the Allen device. This puts the safety device as a much more costly device for the object itself and the installation. Further, it does not improve the danger indication for hills and high vegetation areas where the low guardrail may be un-seen. Recently, in 2001 a U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,276 was issued to Weid for a road safety reflector. Here the road safety reflector assembly has a pair of oppositely disposed finger cradles with a hollow, re-enforceable housing, which has one or two reflectors mounted therein. Reflecting road markers augment the stripes in the road. The reflecting road markers can be colored to indicate the kind of stripes being used on the road. This type of safety mechanism employed a road reflector device placed directly into the surface of the roadway. The invention showed no improvement for alerting the drivers to oncoming traffic at hills and curves or near dense vegetation as the Allen device demonstrates.
More recently, a guardrail reflector and delineator and mounting device was shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,300,165 issued to Garcia in 2007. Here is provided reflective markers, reflectors, and delineators with a variety of mounting apparatuses for attaching them onto standard guardrails without affecting the safety feature, display utility, and visibility of the marker/reflectors/delineators mounted onto the railing. The guardrail reflector/delineator boasts that it is particularly useful in locations and places with limited or no lighting, for example, cloudy days, foggy areas, dark places, streets with no lights at night, etc. However, it does no reflection and dispersion for hills, mountains or in high vegetation situation. Plus, it requires the use with the more expensive guardrail with a means to mount upon the rails surface. Finally, as prior art a U.S. Patent application was published in 2006 as US Publication 2006/0162644 for Choi that described a light reflector of a guardrail. It described another type of A light reflector (delineator) of a guardrail for a road having a mirror like light reflecting surface formed on a reverse trapezoidal valley of a light reflecting body, and front and rear ends of the reverse trapezoidal valley attached with a high brightness light reflecting tape or coated with a fluorescent paint. Again the this device requires the use with the more expensive guardrail with a means to mount upon the rails surface. Again it provides no light reflection and dispersion for hills, mountains or in high vegetation situation.